Google Insiders Dumping Shares

Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and
Sergey Brin each plan to sell up to 7.2 million shares of their stock
in the online search engine leader during the next 18 months --
divestitures that would generate windfalls of more than $1 billion
apiece at current market prices.

Mountain View-based Google disclosed the intentions of Page and
Brin, both 31, late Friday in documents filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. In the same filing, Google also revealed that its
chief executive, Eric Schmidt, plans to sell 2.2 million shares of his
holdings to cash in on the company's stock price, which has nearly
doubled since an August initial public offering.

Google's shares gained $1.86, or 1.1 percent, to close at $169.40
Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Based on that price, Page and Brin
would each pocket $1.2 billion from their planned stock sales while
Schmidt, 49, would collect $373 million. The stock's trading price has
ranged from $95.96 to $201.60 per share since the IPO was completed
Aug. 19 at $85 per share.

Page, Brin and Schmidt, who say they run Google collectively, will
retain most of their company stock. If the planned sales are completed,
Page and Brin will still own about 31 million shares apiece -- stakes
worth more than $5 billion as of Friday. Schmidt would still own 12.2
million shares -- currently worth more than $2 billion.

Page, Brin and Schmidt plan to dispose of their stock through
automated trading programs -- a common tactic that corporate executives
use so investors don't question the timing of their divestitures. The
trio adopted the plans in mid-September, but Google didn't reveal the
details until Friday.

Google disclosed the planned stock sales amid rising investor
anxiety about possible sharp decline in the share price if hundreds of
insiders began to cash out the holdings that they have accumulated
since the popular search engine's Internet debut in 1998.

The selling restrictions on 39.1 million shares held by Google
insiders were lifted Tuesday, contributing to a one-day decline of
nearly 7 percent in the company's stock. Another 227 million shares
will become eligible for trading between from Dec. 16 through Feb. 14.

The insider selling has already begun. In a separate SEC filing
Friday, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
disclosed it sold 5.78 million shares Wednesday for $997 million, or
$172.45 per share. Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins had invested $12.5
million in Google in June 1999.